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Norwich Union supports new principles on flood insurance

Norwich Union supports the new Statement of Principles for floodinsurance, announced by the Association of British Insurers,(ABI).

The insurer also believes that these new principles will bringincreased confidence to homeowners and small businesses affected byflooding.

The statement sets out a number of principles, including:

A commitment to insure properties, wherever possible, whichare protected to at least the Government’s own minimumstandards of flood defence

A commitment to continue to cover existing customers for whomflood defences will be in place by 2007 and includes newprovisions to insure the property if a customer sells theirhome*

For those in high-risk areas where no improvements in flooddefences are planned - a commitment to work with existingcustomers, local authorities and the Environment Agency to see ifaction can be taken to make the property insurable

To support these principles, Norwich Union is calling for theGovernment to make its flood defence database available by the endof 2002. This database will provide consistent information toinsurers about the postcodes at risk from river or coastalflooding, as well as what level of flood defences are available atthese locations.

Commenting on the new principles, Nick Pierson, head of publicaffairs, Norwich Union said: “These new principles bring muchneeded confidence to those homeowners and small businesses affectedby flooding. They also address the concerns of those in high-riskareas, who wish to sell their properties.

“Flooding remains a key issue for homeowners, smallbusinesses and insurers, with a ten-fold increase in the risk offlood predicted over the next century. We’ll continue to workwith the Government in tackling flooding to ensure that as manyproperties as possible are protected in future.”

Norwich Union has been involved in a number of initiatives tohelp find solutions to problems of flooding. For example, theinsurer has commissioned a digital map of Britain to help pinpointand understand exactly which areas of the country are at risk fromriver flooding. The map will be used to provide more accuratepremiums for individual homes and businesses according to theirrisk of flood. Commenting on the mapping project, Elliott Morley,in the House of Commons said: “I am very impressed with thework that Norwich Union is doing on digital mapping, which is muchmore accurate.”

Norwich Union is the UK’s largest insurer. In generalinsurance it is more than 1.5 times the size of its nearestcompetitor and has a 19 per cent share of the market.

It has a focus on insurance for individuals and smallbusinesses. It insures:

one in five households

one in five motor vehicles

more than 700,000 businesses

Norwich Union products are available through a variety ofdistribution channels including brokers, corporate partners suchas banks and building societies, and Norwich Union Direct.

Norwich Union's news releases are available on the internet atwww.aviva.com

A selection of images are available from the Aviva Newscastsite at www.newscast.co.uk